Maybe its just my schools but I never had a pen pal.Like now I'm taking French and in the textbook they talk about pen pals but weren't not actually getting real ones.
I thought it'd be kind of cool to have a pen pal but maybe my school doesn't do them for safety?

But anyways is there anyway to get one because I want to know what its like in other areas or countries outside of my state.
-And did you school ever have a pen pal assignment?

Lol the internet.But not everyone has a computer at home and pen pals is old tradition(well I don't know if it is but still).
Maybe its just my school system in the area I live in but during grade school I never had a school bus pick me up from home(except pre-school).I had to walk to school or take the public bus since I didn't have a family car but I was thinking back about how in tv people have a school bus.

When I was a kid in the 70s, teachers would do pen pal exchanges with classes in other parts of the country or world. I got a couple pen pals that way but they never really lasted. When I was in the 5th or 6th grade, I was pen pals with my cousin in England. That was kind of fun and we wrote for a while.

These days there are all these privacy concerns and nobody uses the mail. Email does seem smarter.

When are women going to face the fact that they donít know their own bodies as well as men who have heard things?

But I'm kind of tempted to pen pal people in jail because many people probably don't write them and they're all alone...maybe I've been watching too much tv but I feel sorry for them.Like there's a show on A&E called 'beyond scared straight' that sends at risk teens to jail to hopefully make them change their ways.

My school never had a pen pal assignment. When I was 12, a magazine I used to read called Teen Magazine ran a "Meet Your Astrological Pen Pal" piece. You had to tape 50 cents to a form and check off the attributes you wanted in a friend. I got the name of a girl named Johanna, who lived in Newark, NJ. We corresponded for a bit, but she kind of fell of the face of the earth. I was really disappointed. Shortly after, I received a letter for a girl from Redgranite, WI. I guess they sent me Johanna's name and address, and sent mine to the girl in WI. We became fast friends. We corresponded from 1981 until 1987, when I flew out to meet her. Then we met again when I was the maid-of-honor at her wedding in 1991. In 1998 she came to NYC when she was in my wedding.

We no longer write to each other, but keep in touch through FB and send each other cards at Christmas/birthdays.

I wouldn't feel comfortable with someone in prison having my name and home address.

I had a pen pal in 4th or 5th grade. It was part of our English class. He was one year younger than me, from Stockholm Sweden, and really nice. We exchanged several letters. I still remember little details, but can not remember his name. We both loved the movie Duck Soup, and referenced it often. We had several things in common. It was fun talking to him. As others said, the Internet happened. Hand written letters and trips to the library soon died.

Just a funny side note about my pen pal: Years later I read an interview with Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman) saying his favorite movie is Duck Soup. He has loved it since childhood. He is from Stockholm, and a year younger than me. I often think... What are the chances?? Even if it wasn't him, I will pretend it was. Lol.

But I'm kind of tempted to pen pal people in jail because many people probably don't write them and they're all alone...maybe I've been watching too much tv but I feel sorry for them.Like there's a show on A&E called 'beyond scared straight' that sends at risk teens to jail to hopefully make them change their ways.

Originally Posted by Johari

Please trust me when I say, no you don't. I've had/have friends in prison that I've written. People I have known for 20 to 30 some years. I thought it would be a nice gesture to check in from time to time, let them know what was going on at home, etc... because very few people go to see them or write them.

Prison does a number on people. They are beyond bored, in a stressful situation, and this wears on the mind. Before you know it they start sending letters once a month, once every two weeks, once a week, and then every single day-respecting a reply on all of them. It's exhausting enough with people you know. Forget a stranger (and the added) danger!

When I hear terms like "hipster" I think, who told cliques they could leave high school??

I had penpals when I was young, it wasn't done through school though, I think there was some international penfriend organisation that you could write to with your details and they would put you in touch with people. I had three - one in New Zealand, one in Sweden and one in Italy. The NZ and Swedish one I kept in touch with for a few years, the Italian not so long. I still remember their names and even the address of the Swedish girl! It just sort of fizzled out, nothing to do with the internet, this was back in the 70's.

I'm with some of the others that having a pen pal in prison wouldn't be safe, especially for a minor. Prisoners are often master manipulators. It can be difficult enough for some grown women to resist them. Minors don't often have the maturity or experience to establish boundaries or to recognize whether or not they're being played with. Doing it with a soldier is a far better alternative.